New divisional manager

Thomas Stobinsky, 45, has been in charge of the DIY sales division of Zeus’s Hagebaumarkt stores since May began. Previous to this he had held sales and marketing positions with various DIY retail groups, one of them as franchising manager at Toom. Michael Sylvester, 43, who had been running the group’s overall DIY sales and marketing as divisional manager since January 2006, will in future be responsible for the newly created division for the strategic development of the retail business segment. According to information from Zeus, this restructuring has resulted from the development of the competitive situation, which necessitates the concentrated and intensified management of the nearly 300 outlets in the Hagebaumarkt franchise system. Sales and marketing for the 170 Werkmarkt stores has been under the control of Thomas Krämer since the beginning of May as well. He also has responsibility for Zeus’s 327 garden centres as divisional manager for garden sales.